Conor held tightly onto his mother. And by doing so, he could finally let her go.

No,' Ben says, 'but I believe it. I believe it for you. And that's why it's hope.

Didn't you finish your chemistry in school?" "You closed the school and burnt all the books." "Ah, so I did.

"No," he says, taking us both in. "No, no, no. You've come farther than most people on this planet will in their lifetimes. You've overcome obstacles and dangers and things that should've killed you. You've outrun an army and a madman and deadly illness and seen things most people will never see. How do you think you could have possibly come this far if you didn't have hope?"

Teenagers are the greatest readers in the world - honest, unsnobby and loyal

Here's what I think," I say and my voice is stronger and thoughts are coming, thoughts that trickle into my noise like whispers of truth. "I think maybe everybody falls," I say. "I think maybe we all do. And I don't think that's the asking." I pull on her arms gently to make sure she's listening. "I think the asking is whether we get back up again.

Life equals running and when we stop running maybe that's how we'll know life is finally finished.